Apple Electric Car Reportedly On Track For 2020 Release, Key Team Members Revealed

One of the hottest rumors in tech right now is that Apple is working on an electric car. Word all over the web Apple is approaching the project hyper aggressively with hopes of launching an electric vehicle as early as 2020. If Apple pulls it off, it would mean that this is something the Cupertino company has been working on for several years now, or was able to skip some steps in the R&D process by poaching talent and seeing what other manufacturers have done to this point.

Building a car typically takes five to seven years. An electric car is a bit more complicated, though Apple has plenty of incentive to get this done as quickly as possible, if in fact it really is working on an electrical vehicle. Otherwise, Apple would lose ground to Tesla and General Motors, both of which are hoping to release an electric car by 2017 that can exceed 200 miles per charge.

According to Bloomberg, Apple's car team is already 200 people strong. It's said that Apple has been picking up the pace in the last couple of months as it looks to bring on new talent with expertise in specific fields such as batteries and robotics. Apple's even been the target of a lawsuit for poaching talent from A123 Systems LLC, a battery maker in Massachusetts.

"Apple is currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123," the battery maker said.

Building an electric vehicle would be an interesting play for Apple, and as I stated earlier this week, it's possible that Apple's more interested in taking over your car's dash than becoming another automaker. However, Apple is sitting on $178 billion in cash, so it certainly has the funds to experiment. Not only that, but 9to5Mac has the skinny on Apple's supposed car team, and looking at the hires, it seems like Apple is up to something more than in-car electronics.

Steve Zadesky, a former Ford executive, is said to be in charge of the team working on Apple's electric vehicle. He's joined by numerous recent hires from the auto industry, such as Rogert Gough from Autoliv, David Neslon from Tesla, Hugh Jay from EMCO Gears (previously worked as a transmission and mechanical designer), and several others.

Given the breadth of talent, it seems increasingly likely that Apple is serious about this project. That doesn't mean it will come to fruition, but between the hires and and $178 billion in cash Apple has on hand, there's reason for Tesla and other automakers to be nervous.